Are you readi for this?

Sarah Stead • Published 30 Jan 2010 09:00 0 Comments

READING'S most welcoming folk club has got a great season ahead.

Readifolk, which meets in the conference centre at RISC each Sunday, is well established to say the least.

It has been going for around 35 years and pulls in big international names - but there's always time for a joke, for a ditty, or for a nervous musician to perform in public for the first time.

Una Waters, who runs Readifolk, says nurturing new performers is one of her favourite sides to the club.

"It's a lovely atmosphere at the singers' nights, very encouraging. We do get people who are very good but nobody puts anybody down and nobody's showing off.

"I only perform on singers' nights... I feel I can show people they don't have to be good to have a try!

"At last Sunday's singers' night we had 26 people and just about everybody did something. We had some people who've never come before.

When we first went around the circle one girl said she wouldn't play. But later on she produced a tenor recorder and played beautifully."

The club's singers' nights and themed nights attract a wide range of performers ("We have accordions, saxophones, melodeons, bassoons, all sorts of musicians," says Una) and people who just want to listen. But guest nights attract performers from across the globe.

"Norah Rendell and Brian Miller are the highlight of next month," says Una.

"One's Canadian and the other's American and they're listed as Irish music with an American twist. They're making quite a name for themselves.

"After them the next big thing is the Askew Sisters. They're fantastic, really up and coming. We've put them on before and they attracted a great crowd."

While Norah and Brian perform on February 14, this Sunday's show comes from Tandara Mandara, an Eastern European-inspired trio Una spotted in a pub at Wallingford Festival last year.

"There's a double bass, a fiddle and an accordion," enthuses Una, who says their music ranges from high-tempo gypsy jazz to haunting Jewish klezmer tunes.

"I'm really looking forward to them, and they were delighted to be asked." As with every other night, all are very welcome.

Readifolk meets in the conference centre at RISC, above the Global Café in London Street, Reading, at 8pm every Sunday.

Guest nights cost £5, singers' and theme nights cost £1.

See www.readifolk.org.uk for more.

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 28 Jan 10

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